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excalidraw-icons-mcp

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SUMMARY

Excalidraw MCP server with real vendor-icon search & insertion (AWS/Azure/GCP/OCI/Kubernetes) for AI-built architecture diagrams — live canvas, 31 tools

README.md

Excalidraw Icons MCP

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A faster Excalidraw MCP server built around real vendor icons. AI agents draw architecture diagrams with official AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI, and Kubernetes icons — not generic rectangles — in one-shot batches on a live canvas they can see and refine.

Two things set it apart from the upstream fork it grew from:

  • ⚡ Speed: single-batch element creation, a leaner dependency tree, and an optimized canvas load path — fewer round-trips per diagram.
  • 🎨 Real icons: search_official_icon + add_image pull actual vendor icons instead of drawing shapes that only approximate them.

This repo provides:

  • MCP Server: 31 tools over the Model Context Protocol (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Codex CLI, etc.) — icon search & insertion, element CRUD, auto-layout, per-domain diagram conventions
  • Agent Skill: Portable skill for Claude Code, Codex CLI, and other skill-enabled agents

Keywords: Excalidraw MCP server, AWS/Azure/GCP icons, AI architecture diagrams, diagrams as code, Claude Code skill, Codex CLI skill, Cursor MCP, Mermaid to Excalidraw.

Demo

Excalidraw Icons MCP demo: an AI agent building a serverless AWS architecture with official icons

An AI agent builds a serverless AWS architecture step by step with Route 53, CloudFront, API Gateway, Lambda, DynamoDB, SQS, and S3.

Table of Contents

What It Is

This repo contains two separate processes:

  • Canvas server: web UI + REST API + WebSocket updates (default http://127.0.0.1:3000)
  • MCP server: exposes MCP tools over stdio; syncs to the canvas via EXPRESS_SERVER_URL

How We Differ from the Official Excalidraw MCP

Excalidraw now has an official MCP — it's great for quick, prompt-to-diagram generation rendered inline in chat. We solve a different problem.

Official Excalidraw MCP This Project
Approach Prompt in, diagram out (one-shot) Programmatic element-level control (31 tools)
State Stateless — each call is independent Persistent live canvas with real-time sync
Element CRUD No Full create / read / update / delete per element
AI sees the canvas No describe_scene (structured text) + get_canvas_screenshot (image)
Iterative refinement No — regenerate the whole diagram Draw → look → adjust → look again, element by element
Layout tools No align_elements, distribute_elements, group / ungroup
File I/O No export_scene / import_scene (.excalidraw JSON)
Snapshot & rollback No snapshot_scene / restore_snapshot
Mermaid conversion No create_from_mermaid
Shareable URLs Yes Yes — export_to_excalidraw_url
Design guide read_me cheat sheet read_diagram_guide (colors, sizing, layout, anti-patterns)
Viewport control Camera animations set_viewport (zoom-to-fit, center on element, manual zoom)
Live canvas UI Rendered inline in chat Standalone Excalidraw app synced via WebSocket
Multi-agent Single user Multiple agents can draw on the same canvas concurrently
Works without MCP No Yes — REST API fallback via agent skill

TL;DR — The official MCP generates diagrams. We give AI agents a full canvas toolkit to build, inspect, and iteratively refine diagrams — including the ability to see what they drew.

What's New

Icons & Conventions (this fork)

  • Standardized icon search & insertion: search_official_icon + add_image pull real vendor icons — official AWS/Azure/GCP/OCI packs (user-supplied, see Vendor Icons), bundled Kubernetes, simple-icons (CC0), Tabler (MIT), and Iconify (~200k icons, fetched on demand and cached). No more generic rectangles for an "RDS" or "Compute Engine".
  • Community libraries: search_library_items + insert_library_item for libraries.excalidraw.com shapes.
  • Per-domain diagram conventions: read_diagram_guide accepts diagramType (network, cloud-aws, cloud-gcp, cloud-azure, c4, erd, flowchart, sequence) and returns that domain's standard conventions — canonical icons, boundary containers, shape semantics.
  • Auto-layout & validation: batch_create_elements with autoLayout: true arranges nodes and removes overlaps; validate_layout flags overlaps, cramped spacing, and crossing arrows.
  • Performance and cleanup: single-batch creation flows, dependency pruning, dead-code removal.

v2.0 — Canvas Toolkit (upstream)

  • 13 new MCP tools: get_element, clear_canvas, export_scene, import_scene, export_to_image, duplicate_elements, snapshot_scene, restore_snapshot, describe_scene, get_canvas_screenshot, read_diagram_guide, export_to_excalidraw_url, set_viewport
  • Closed feedback loop: AI can now inspect the canvas (describe_scene) and see it (get_canvas_screenshot returns an image) — enabling iterative refinement
  • Design guide: read_diagram_guide returns best-practice color palettes, sizing rules, layout patterns, and anti-patterns — dramatically improves AI-generated diagram quality
  • Shareable URLs: export_to_excalidraw_url encrypts and uploads the scene to excalidraw.com, returns a shareable link anyone can open
  • Viewport control: set_viewport with scrollToContent, scrollToElementId, or manual zoom/offset — agents can auto-fit diagrams after creation
  • File I/O: export/import full .excalidraw JSON files
  • Snapshots: save and restore named canvas states
  • Skill fallback: Agent skill auto-detects MCP vs REST API mode, gracefully falls back to HTTP endpoints when MCP server isn't configured
  • Fixed all previously known issues: align_elements / distribute_elements fully implemented, points type normalization, removed invalid label type, removed HTTP transport dead code, ungroup_elements now errors on failure

v1.x

  • Agent skill: skills/excalidraw-skill/ (portable instructions + helper scripts for export/import and repeatable CRUD)
  • Better testing loop: MCP Inspector CLI examples + browser screenshot checks (agent-browser)
  • Bugfixes: batch create now preserves element ids (fixes update/delete after batch); frontend entrypoint fixed (main.tsx)

Quick Start (Local)

Prereqs: Node >= 18, npm

npm ci
npm run build

Terminal 1: start the canvas

PORT=3000 npm run canvas

Security note: The server defaults to binding on 127.0.0.1 only. If you need to expose it on a network interface (e.g. Docker, remote access), set HOST=0.0.0.0 — but ensure you have network-level access controls in place, as the API has no built-in authentication.

Open http://127.0.0.1:3000.

Terminal 2: run the MCP server (stdio)

EXPRESS_SERVER_URL=http://127.0.0.1:3000 node dist/index.js

Quick Start (Docker)

Canvas server:

docker run -d -p 3000:3000 --name excalidraw-icons-canvas ghcr.io/iagogfe/excalidraw-icons-mcp-canvas:latest

MCP server (stdio) is typically launched by your MCP client (Claude Desktop/Cursor/etc.). If you want a local container for it, use the image ghcr.io/iagogfe/excalidraw-icons-mcp:latest and set EXPRESS_SERVER_URL to point at the canvas.

Configure MCP Clients

The MCP server runs over stdio and can be configured with any MCP-compatible client. Below are configurations for both local (requires cloning and building) and Docker (pull-and-run) setups.

Environment Variables

Variable Description Default
EXPRESS_SERVER_URL URL of the canvas server http://127.0.0.1:3000
ENABLE_CANVAS_SYNC Enable real-time canvas sync true

Claude Desktop

Config location:

  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
  • Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Local (node)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "excalidraw": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/excalidraw-icons-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "EXPRESS_SERVER_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:3000",
        "ENABLE_CANVAS_SYNC": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

Docker

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "excalidraw": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm",
        "-e", "EXPRESS_SERVER_URL=http://host.docker.internal:3000",
        "-e", "ENABLE_CANVAS_SYNC=true",
        "ghcr.io/iagogfe/excalidraw-icons-mcp:latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

Use the claude mcp add command to register the MCP server.

Local (node) - User-level (available across all projects):

claude mcp add excalidraw --scope user \
  -e EXPRESS_SERVER_URL=http://127.0.0.1:3000 \
  -e ENABLE_CANVAS_SYNC=true \
  -- node /absolute/path/to/excalidraw-icons-mcp/dist/index.js

Local (node) - Project-level (shared via .mcp.json):

claude mcp add excalidraw --scope project \
  -e EXPRESS_SERVER_URL=http://127.0.0.1:3000 \
  -e ENABLE_CANVAS_SYNC=true \
  -- node /absolute/path/to/excalidraw-icons-mcp/dist/index.js

Docker

claude mcp add excalidraw --scope user \
  -- docker run -i --rm \
  -e EXPRESS_SERVER_URL=http://host.docker.internal:3000 \
  -e ENABLE_CANVAS_SYNC=true \
  ghcr.io/iagogfe/excalidraw-icons-mcp:latest

Manage servers:

claude mcp list              # List configured servers
claude mcp remove excalidraw # Remove a server

Cursor

Config location: .cursor/mcp.json in your project root (or ~/.cursor/mcp.json for global config)

Local (node)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "excalidraw": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/excalidraw-icons-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "EXPRESS_SERVER_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:3000",
        "ENABLE_CANVAS_SYNC": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

Docker

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "excalidraw": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm",
        "-e", "EXPRESS_SERVER_URL=http://host.docker.internal:3000",
        "-e", "ENABLE_CANVAS_SYNC=true",
        "ghcr.io/iagogfe/excalidraw-icons-mcp:latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Codex CLI

Use the codex mcp add command to register the MCP server.

Local (node)

codex mcp add excalidraw \
  --env EXPRESS_SERVER_URL=http://127.0.0.1:3000 \
  --env ENABLE_CANVAS_SYNC=true \
  -- node /absolute/path/to/excalidraw-icons-mcp/dist/index.js

Docker

codex mcp add excalidraw \
  -- docker run -i --rm \
  -e EXPRESS_SERVER_URL=http://host.docker.internal:3000 \
  -e ENABLE_CANVAS_SYNC=true \
  ghcr.io/iagogfe/excalidraw-icons-mcp:latest

Manage servers:

codex mcp list              # List configured servers
codex mcp remove excalidraw # Remove a server

OpenCode

Config location: ~/.config/opencode/opencode.json or project-level opencode.json

Local (node)

{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "excalidraw": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": ["node", "/absolute/path/to/excalidraw-icons-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "enabled": true,
      "environment": {
        "EXPRESS_SERVER_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:3000",
        "ENABLE_CANVAS_SYNC": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

Docker

{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "excalidraw": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": ["docker", "run", "-i", "--rm", "-e", "EXPRESS_SERVER_URL=http://host.docker.internal:3000", "-e", "ENABLE_CANVAS_SYNC=true", "ghcr.io/iagogfe/excalidraw-icons-mcp:latest"],
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}

Antigravity (Google)

Config location: ~/.gemini/antigravity/mcp_config.json

Local (node)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "excalidraw": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/excalidraw-icons-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "EXPRESS_SERVER_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:3000",
        "ENABLE_CANVAS_SYNC": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

Docker

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "excalidraw": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm",
        "-e", "EXPRESS_SERVER_URL=http://host.docker.internal:3000",
        "-e", "ENABLE_CANVAS_SYNC=true",
        "ghcr.io/iagogfe/excalidraw-icons-mcp:latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Notes

  • Docker networking: Use host.docker.internal to reach the canvas server running on your host machine. On Linux, you may need --add-host=host.docker.internal:host-gateway or use 172.17.0.1.
  • Canvas server: Must be running before the MCP server connects. Start it with npm run canvas (local) or docker run -d -p 3000:3000 ghcr.io/iagogfe/excalidraw-icons-mcp-canvas:latest (Docker).
  • Absolute paths: When using local node setup, replace /absolute/path/to/excalidraw-icons-mcp with the actual path where you cloned and built the repo.
  • In-memory storage: The canvas server stores elements in memory. Restarting the server will clear all elements. Use the export/import scripts if you need persistence.

Agent Skill (Optional)

This repo includes a skill at skills/excalidraw-skill/ that provides:

  • Workflow playbook (SKILL.md): step-by-step guidance for drawing, refining, and exporting diagrams
  • Cheatsheet (references/cheatsheet.md): MCP tool and REST API reference
  • Helper scripts (scripts/*.cjs): export, import, clear, healthcheck, CRUD operations

The skill complements the MCP server by giving your AI agent structured workflows to follow.

Install The Skill (Codex CLI example)

mkdir -p ~/.codex/skills
cp -R skills/excalidraw-skill ~/.codex/skills/excalidraw-skill

To update an existing installation, remove the old folder first (rm -rf ~/.codex/skills/excalidraw-skill) then re-copy.

Install The Skill (Claude Code)

User-level (available across all your projects):

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cp -R skills/excalidraw-skill ~/.claude/skills/excalidraw-skill

Project-level (scoped to a specific project, can be committed to the repo):

mkdir -p /path/to/your/project/.claude/skills
cp -R skills/excalidraw-skill /path/to/your/project/.claude/skills/excalidraw-skill

Then invoke the skill in Claude Code with /excalidraw-skill.

To update an existing installation, remove the old folder first then re-copy.

Use The Skill Scripts

All scripts respect EXPRESS_SERVER_URL (default http://127.0.0.1:3000) or accept --url.

EXPRESS_SERVER_URL=http://127.0.0.1:3000 node skills/excalidraw-skill/scripts/healthcheck.cjs
EXPRESS_SERVER_URL=http://127.0.0.1:3000 node skills/excalidraw-skill/scripts/export-elements.cjs --out diagram.elements.json
EXPRESS_SERVER_URL=http://127.0.0.1:3000 node skills/excalidraw-skill/scripts/import-elements.cjs --in diagram.elements.json --mode batch

When The Skill Is Useful

  • Repository workflow: export elements as JSON, commit it, and re-import later.
  • Reliable refactors: clear + re-import in sync mode to make canvas match a file.
  • Automated smoke tests: create/update/delete a known element to validate a deployment.
  • Repeatable diagrams: keep a library of element JSON snippets and import them.

See skills/excalidraw-skill/SKILL.md and skills/excalidraw-skill/references/cheatsheet.md.

MCP Tools (31 Total)

Category Tools
Element CRUD create_element, get_element, update_element, delete_element, query_elements, batch_create_elements, duplicate_elements
Layout align_elements, distribute_elements, group_elements, ungroup_elements, lock_elements, unlock_elements
Icons & Libraries search_official_icon, add_image, search_library_items, insert_library_item
Scene Awareness describe_scene, get_canvas_screenshot, validate_layout
File I/O export_scene, import_scene, export_to_image, export_to_excalidraw_url, create_from_mermaid
State Management clear_canvas, snapshot_scene, restore_snapshot
Viewport set_viewport
Design Guide read_diagram_guide
Resources get_resource

Full schemas are discoverable via tools/list or in skills/excalidraw-skill/references/cheatsheet.md.

Per-Domain Diagram Conventions

read_diagram_guide accepts an optional diagramType — the client LLM identifies the diagram domain from the user's request and passes it to get that domain's standard convention appended to the guide (canonical icons, boundary containers, shape semantics, flow direction):

diagramType Convention
network Cisco-style icons, LAN→ISP→cloud flow, dashed segment containers (LAN/DMZ/VLAN)
cloud-gcp Official GCP icons, Google Cloud boundary + region/zone containers
cloud-aws AWS Cloud → Region → VPC → AZ/subnet container nesting
cloud-azure Azure boundary, resource-group grouping, VNet/subnet containers
c4 C4 Model levels (one per diagram), Structurizr palette, labeled arrows with protocol
erd Crow's-foot cardinality labels, entity layout rules
flowchart ISO 5807 shape semantics (diamond = decision, labeled exits)
sequence UML lifelines, sync/async message styles (prefers create_from_mermaid)

Conventions live in src/diagramConventions.ts; validated by npm run test:conventions.

Vendor Icon Packs

search_official_icon works out of the box with bundled Kubernetes icons, simple-icons, Tabler, and Iconify (fetched on demand). Official cloud-vendor packs (AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI) are not bundled — each vendor requires accepting its own license, so you download them yourself and drop the SVGs under icons/<vendor>/. These folders are git-ignored and never redistributed by this repo.

Vendor Folder Where to get it
AWS icons/aws/ AWS Architecture Icons — download the asset package, extract the *_48.svg / Res_*.svg files
Azure icons/azure/ Azure architecture icons — official SVG zip
GCP icons/gcp/ Google Cloud icons — official SVG zip
OCI icons/oracle/ OCI diagram toolkit

Drop the .svg files directly under the folder (subfolders are fine — the index walks recursively). Local packs take priority over Iconify in search results. After adding a pack, restart the MCP server so the icon index picks it up.

Testing

Canvas Smoke Test (HTTP)

curl http://127.0.0.1:3000/health

Local Bind Regression Test

npm run test:bind

MCP Smoke Test (MCP Inspector)

List tools:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector --cli \
  -e EXPRESS_SERVER_URL=http://127.0.0.1:3000 \
  -e ENABLE_CANVAS_SYNC=true -- \
  node dist/index.js --method tools/list

Create a rectangle:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector --cli \
  -e EXPRESS_SERVER_URL=http://127.0.0.1:3000 \
  -e ENABLE_CANVAS_SYNC=true -- \
  node dist/index.js --method tools/call --tool-name create_element \
  --tool-arg type=rectangle --tool-arg x=100 --tool-arg y=100 \
  --tool-arg width=300 --tool-arg height=200

Frontend Screenshots (agent-browser)

If you use agent-browser for UI checks:

agent-browser install
agent-browser open http://127.0.0.1:3000
agent-browser wait --load networkidle
agent-browser screenshot /tmp/canvas.png

Troubleshooting

  • Canvas not updating: confirm EXPRESS_SERVER_URL points at the running canvas server.
  • Updates/deletes fail after batch creation: ensure you are on a build that includes the batch id preservation fix.

Known Issues / TODO

All previously listed bugs have been fixed in v2.0. Remaining items:

  • Persistent storage: Elements are stored in-memory — restarting the server clears everything. Use export_scene / snapshots as a workaround.
  • Image export requires a browser: export_to_image and get_canvas_screenshot rely on the frontend doing the actual rendering. The canvas UI must be open in a browser.

Contributions welcome!

Development

npm run type-check
npm run build

Credits

This project started as a fork of yctimlin/mcp_excalidraw, which provides the live canvas + MCP foundation. On top of it, this fork adds standardized icon search and insertion (official AWS/Azure/GCP/OCI/Kubernetes packs, simple-icons, Tabler, Iconify), per-domain diagram conventions, auto-layout, and performance improvements. The demo above was recorded with this project's MCP server and official AWS icons.

License

MIT — original work © 2024 MCP Excalidraw Server (yctimlin), modifications © 2026 Iago Gonçalves.

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